Link tells stories about great Postal Service employees every day. Here are 10 favorites from 2018.
1. Good service. Los Angeles Mail Handler Willie Clemmons, 91, marked 68 years as a postal employee in August — and said he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
2. End of an era. Samuel Mitchell made history in January when he retired as the nation’s last presidentially appointed Postmaster.
3. Tried and true. Before retiring in September, Frances Higgs, 80, spent 40 years as a rural carrier in Superior, MT — where she saw more than her fair share of moose, elk and coyotes.
4. Good find. Elgin, IL, Custodian Thomas Caulfield became a mail detective when he found a Postmaster’s World War II-era letter and reunited the note with the man’s son.
5. Long run. Mack Mata Jr. answered a “Help Wanted” sign at the Carlsbad, CA, Post Office in 1960. Fifty-seven years later, he retired as the city’s longest-serving letter carrier.
6. ‘Oh my stars!’ The headline refers to 98-year-old customer Lucille Hilterbrand’s reaction when a Postal Service employee called to say letters that her deceased brother wrote during the 1940s had recently turned up at the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta.
7. It’s him we like. Postal Service employees were excited to promote the Mister Rogers stamp when it was released in March. It turns out some employees had personal connections to the beloved children’s TV host.
8. Hailing the ‘Queen.’ The world lost an icon when Aretha Franklin died in August, but Pontiac, MI, Mail Handler Andra McKoy lost a friend and mentor.
9. Letters to Barbara and All the best. Two stories that recall the legacies of former President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush, who both died this year, through the letters they exchanged with friends, admirers and each other.
10. Carrying on. Every Postal Service employee has a story to tell. For Rutland, VT, Letter Carrier Sasa Maksimovic, it’s a story about leaving war-torn Serbia in the 1990s and beginning a new life as a USPS employee.
What were your favorite Link stories this year? Email your feedback to uspslink@usps.gov.